Tesla Has To Step Up Its Game To Stay Ahead

As Elon Musk delves deeper into the farthest reaches of his imagination for more sci-fi dreams in which to invest, his already existing companies might be having some trouble. Or at least one of them is, as SpaceX has never been better, his Hyperloop track is… right on track, and PayPal is still being used worldwide. No, the problem is with his vehicle company, as Tesla has to step up its game to stay ahead.

Tesla hasn’t been having too good a time

People haven’t been too happy with the newest Tesla car – the Model X – since it came out, and this started to reflect in the company’s stocks. With the fourth quarter earnings to be reported on Wednesday, stock analysts are worried about how the electric company will fare.

Tesla has been losing a number of investors, mostly the more skittish ones, giving them the biggest drop in their stocks in over a year. This might just translate into a 15% weekly loss for the company, to the horror of investors.

A barrage of mostly negative reviews and impressions has stained the company’s reputation, and the poor analyst reports aren’t doing Tesla much favor. One of the biggest issues was related to the company’s Model X SUV and the difficulty Tesla seems to be having in mass marketing and producing the vehicle.

Analyst forecasts for Tesla’s fourth quarter

Despite the low opinions and dropping stocks the company has seen lately, some analysts are still quite optimist regarding Wednesday’s reports. Some analysts, for example, estimate the company’s earnings for the fourth quarter to be of 17 cents a share, despite recent stock drops.

As for the company’s revenue, the same analysts as the ones predicting the stock improvements are pretty sure that Tesla will report $1.84 billion for the fourth quarter, higher than last year’s $1.1 billion. The company’s revenue is also expected to go higher than $2 billion in the second quarter of 2016.

Further regarding the company’s shares, Tesla has lost 26% over the past 12 months, and 32% in the last three months alone.

Future plans for the company

Tesla will be in desperate need of an increased cash flow over the next few months, with the company looking at a few very capital intensive months ahead. And investors will definitely want to know if the company is going to return to capital markets over the course of 2016.

Surprisingly, despite issues with the production and delivery of their Model X, Tesla will start taking orders for their new car, the Model 3, in March. Additionally, the company’s Nevada based Gigafactory plant will begin battery cell production sometime next year.

In order to be able to produce the Model 3 for a lower price, so as to keep their promise of making it far more accessible than their previous models, Tesla will need to start serious work on developing their superior batteries.

The company will also have to handle the low demand for their Models X and S, so as to be able to remain profitable over the course of the year.

Of course, with Elon Musk busy with his plentitude of other projects, as well as with his notorious stunt when he refused to sell a car to a reviewer that commented negatively on one of the company’s electric cars, it’s kind of inevitable that Tesla has few issues. But they will most likely step back on track soon.

About Cliff Jenkins Scott

Cliff likes to describe himself as made for the hard road. Freelancing is taking off across the world. And yet, valuable opportunities are hard to find he thinks, particularly when it comes to writing.
After graduating with an MA degree in Communication as a major and Technology and Writing as minors, Cliff decided to give his own website hosting creative writing a boost and engage in an overwhelming number of projects, all of them focused on writing. He didn’t look for a quick burnout, but his eagerness to learn as much as possible as rapidly as possible kept him going.